ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DETERMINANTS OF REGIONAL INVESTMENT AND TECHNICAL CHANGE IN CANADA

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to develop an understanding of the most significant determinants of spatio-temporal patterns of private capital accumulation in Canadian regions by focusing on both economic and political attributes of the regional investment context. Economic variables include spatial variations in profitability of production. labor costs, and aggalomeration economics, while the chief political dimension is the extent of union organization and militancy within the regional labor force. Analysis of provincial manufacturing activity1 investigates the relative importance of economic versus political variables in shaping the histories of investment and technical change in individual provinces from the mid-1980s to the present.